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Visiting scholar touts idea of `China Commonwealth'

Taipei and Beijing should consider the concept of a "China Com-monwealth" to build a strategic partnership that would greatly benefit both sides, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute of Stanford University said Tuesday.

Ramon Myers said during a roundtable discussion in Taipei, jointly sponsored by the World League for Freedom and Democracy ROC Chapter and the Central Daily News, that for some years formal negotiations between Taiwan and China have not taken place.

Both sides have increased their weapons systems while they have remained deeply suspicious of one another, he added.

Myers, who taught at National Taiwan University in 1990 and 1991, said the "China Common-wealth" concept refers to a political union of equals -- the ROC and the PRC -- under the principle that there is only one China comprising Taiwan and mainland China.

The "China Commonwealth" would be an evolving political union aimed at demilitarizing the Taiwan Strait and enhancing the security of the ROC and the PRC without any military alliance, Myers said.

The concept is also an evolving process of integrating two different market economies to enable the economies of the ROC and the PRC to become more productive and achieve modern growth and structural change, Myers said.

To form the commonwealth, Myers suggests that both sides must first commit to rules that make for a "China Commonwealth" Constitution. Second, both parties must develop the rules to give them maximum incentives to commit to the "China Commonwealth" and not abandon it.

Third, he said, both parties must be equal partners who agree to rules, implement them and enforce them.

Fourth, the "China Commonwealth" must create rules that promote the demilitarization of the Taiwan Strait; integration of their market economies; expansion of social, ideological and cultural interactions; participation of Taiwan in international organizations and the normalization of the ROC's relations with other states, Myers noted.

Meanwhile, Myers stressed that the "China Commonwealth" that he is promoting is not a relationship in which the PRC is the center and the ROC is a province or district, or vice versa.

The concept is also not a military alliance against Japan, the US or any other nation or alliance system, he said.

He added that the "China Commonwealth" is not an economic block or union against Europe or any other economic union, nor a political union preventing Taiwan from having normal relations with other nations and participating in international organizations.

Myers concluded that creating this new political union preserves Taiwan's democracy, prosperity and independence while also satisfying the leaders and people of the PRC as the "China Commonwealth" eventually becomes a true "one China."

Both parties of the "China Commonwealth" must have patience, be creative and make concessions, Myers said.

By behaving in this way, he added, the "China Commonwealth" would increase the benefits for both Taiwan and the PRC and reduce the costs that currently afflict them because they are unable to have a dialogue.

World League for Freedom and Democracy ROC Chapter President Yao Eng-chi (饒穎奇) said the "China Commonwealth" that he has been championing is the "biggest common divisor" for all parties concerned.

Seeing it as a cure-all which can help unlock the cross-strait stalemate, Yao urged the leadership of each side of the Taiwan Strait to give serious consideration to the initiative.
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